The Process of Creating a Ruin

[Gordon Fitch]

Eric Darton:
> World Trade Center's demise -- literally and economically
> ... 
> Viewed from this perspective, the Port Authority ceases to exist as a 
> public institution created to address the New York region's economic 
> and social needs and becomes instead an assemblage of assets, to be 
> broken up according to the dictates of the market. But "capturing" 
> the value of such assets, of course, is predicated upon the 
> dismemberment of the whole.
> ...

Curiously, the destruction of the World Trade Center may
eventuate in the political will to rebuild something like
it.  The modest proposals put forward by the Port Authority
were despised by the locals as being "like Albany" -- what 
a total put-down! 

My impression has been that New York City was a lot closer 
to being sold for scrap in 1965 than in 1995.

-- Gordon